As a startup, the pressure is always on for getting new clients, hitting sales goals, and building trust in a new market. The same holds true when it comes to mobile app development. Whether you’re building apps for clients, releasing them in the competitive app stores, or using them internally, here are 5 key tips to designing apps that your startup can be proud of.
1. Ensure That Your App is Accessible on Multiple Platforms
There are a number of mobile platforms on the market, and each of them has their own subtle nuances and capabilities that you should keep in mind when developing your app. Your whole development approach depends on whether you plan to release your mobile app on Android, iOS, Kindle or something else. It can be advantageous as a startup to launch your app on a majority of widespread platforms, but consider the effort and time involved.
For instance, Android holds approximately 63% market share of mobile phones, but iOS and Apple devices are far more uniform, thus easier to develop for when testing. If you’re trying to spread your app as far as possible, it might be best to focus on Android. However, if you’re a small team with little man power and just looking to make an impact, iOS might be your best bet.
2. Code Proper Security Measures into Your App
As a startup, protecting your customers’ sensitive information is crucial for long-term success. When dealing with business-critical information, you need to ensure that your app has strong security protocols in place. Offering two-factor authentication and supporting a host of business integrations can tighten security and reduce the chance of putting your users at risk.
3. Guarantee Your Apps are Scalable for Increased User Growth
While you don’t want to build your mobile app infrastructure out too far beyond your means, you should allow for a good deal of growth should you achieve success. For instance, say your marketing team knocks it absolutely out of the park and you have an influx of tens of thousands of users overnight. You should have the database, bandwidth, and storage ready to scale in order to meet the increase in demand. Cloud solutions like Amazon AWS can accommodate sudden spurts in users and can help maintain scalability goals.
4. Design a Responsive User Interface
A well-designed responsive user interface can be the difference between success and failure. If an app performs well and is accessible uniformly, regardless of which mobile device users access it on, then it is likely to attract and retain more users, helping it gain the critical mass of users needed to achieve sustainable success.
5. Ensure Your App Updates Information in Real-time
The most popular way for mobile users to consume media and gather information is through mobile apps. According to Smart Insights, 90% of user time on mobile phones is spent within mobile apps (instead of searching or browsing mobile websites). With this in mind, you want to ensure your apps are constantly sourcing the latest information at all times. You want as little time delay between updates as possible. Real-time information can keep users inside of your app and bring them back to check it more frequently.
You will no doubt face many challenges on the journey towards building your startup. Developing a mobile app is just one of those challenges. Keep in mind that there are a variety of development tools you can use to meet them head on. With the right arsenal, you can overcome any obstacle.
Nick Rojas combines 20 years of experience working with and consulting for small to medium business and a passion for journalism to help readers grow. He writes about technology, marketing, and social media for the aspiring entrepreneur. When Nick is not sharing his expertise, he can be found spending time at the beach with his dog Presto. @NickARojas
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